This strange organism can develop tumors if it overeats, and then transmit them to other individuals.
A recent study on the organism known as hydra (full name: Hydra oligactis), which resembles a jellyfish, reveals that they can develop tumors if overfed.
Microscopic images show a hydra “giving birth” by separating a new individual from its body (Photo: iNaturalist).
Notably, these tumors can be transmitted to their cloned offspring. This is a rare case of cancer being transmissible between living organisms.
To reach this conclusion, the research team collected 50 hydras from Lake Montaud in France and raised them in a laboratory setting.
After feeding the organisms a large amount of brine shrimp larvae, the researchers observed that they began to swell and developed tumors after two months.
These tumors were later found to be transmissible from parent generation to offspring, rather than arising spontaneously. Their likelihood of developing tumors was four times higher than that of individuals with normal parents, despite all being genetically identical.
From this finding, the research team confirmed that tumors can indeed develop in H. oligactis and that the rate of transmission increases over time. This is the first experimental observation of the evolutionary process of transmissible tumors.
This, along with the trend of tumor formation in laboratory conditions, highlights the potential for genetic research into the development of cancer.
The researchers believe that this work is the first contribution towards understanding the conditions under which transmissible cancer occurs, and its short-term consequences for the host.
